Saturday, February 15, 2014

Return of the Return of the "Want a Free Game?"

Neverwinter Nights is on sale again for the next 48 hours! That
means it's time to offer more free copies of the game to those who are
interested in trying it and getting hooked on it. The following is
a repeat of my previous "Want a Free Game?" posts,
so if you already got NWN from me feel free to pass the information on
to a friend so you can play with them!

In addition to WoW I'm quite fond of a
game called Neverwinter Nights.
It's an RPG that came out a few years before WoW which is completely
amazing because it is immensely customizable. You can play solo
campaigns, you can play multiplayer campaigns, and you can play online
on what are effectively MMOs (abet with playerbases in the dozens to
hundreds instead of tens of thousands).

It has a
complete toolset that can be used to tweak almost every mechanic and
create custom content - the original "official" Bioware campaigns make
up like 0.1% of what's available for the game, and a ton of the user
made content blows the original campaigns out of the water. Users can
also add new content in the form of ".hak" files, which add new creature
models, new tilesets, new weapons, new feats (like talents), etc.

And all of this is free except for the original purchase. It's available to buy
on a site called Good Old Games for $9.99 normally - which includes the
original campaign, both expansions (so two more campaigns), and an
additional "premium" module - but it's on sale right now for $5.99.

Except
I'll sweeten the pot even further - if you send me an email at
balkothwarcraft at gmail dot com before by 11:59 PM on Monday night, I'll buy
the game for you and send it to you as a gift. Absolutely free.
Because I think the game deserves to be promoted.

I also made a module of my own earlier. There was a "building challenge" where participants
had one month to create a module (the game is separated into modules,
which can range from being a single testing zone to a MMO-like
Persistent World which spans hundreds of areas and offers hundreds of
hours of playtime - you just load the module you want to play or join it
if it's already being hosted). I created a solo adventure for max
level characters called Siege of the Heavens,
which is an action adventure focused on scripted boss fights, similar
to what you'd find in WoW raids and dungeons (or Brawler's Guild if
you've done that). The Heavens are under attack by devils and demons
and the celestials enlist the help of mortals heroes like yourself to
help lift the siege.

It's
not something you should immediately play - you'll want to familiarize
yourself with the basic mechanics of the game before trying my module.
It's also only technically halfway finished since I only had a month to
build it - which is still 3ish or so hours of playtime, and once it's done
you'll be able to pick up where you left off and play the remaining 3ish
hours that are planned.

Speaking
of familiarizing yourself with the game, I would be happy to play
through the official campaigns (or some custom campaigns, I'd strongly
recommend the Aielund Saga at a minimum - among many other custom
campaigns - which is much better than the official campaigns but again
somewhat expects a familiarity with the game) with anyone interested,
provided we can arrange suitable times. The first official campaign
probably takes about 40 hours to play through, the second two both take
about 20 hours each.

IMPORTANT NOTE
You
will need to request a unique multiplayer key once you claim your game
or else you will be unable to sign into some multiplayer modules for
security reasons. There are instructions on how to do so on the GOG
site.

Also, some of the old multiplayer services (like
game listings provided by Gamespy) are no longer active - but members of
the community have recreated replacements that are just as good (or
better in some cases) as the originals. More information can be found here. Feel free to contact me (via email or private message on the boards - this is my profile there) or post on those boards for help if you need it.

Again,
email me at balkothwarcraft at gmail dot com if you want a copy of the
game, want to find out more about the game, want to try to play the game
with me, or whatever.

10 comments:

It's good to see NWN still going strong. I ran one of the top PW's years ago. Tonight I stumbled across the new D&D on Steam and it got me to thinking about it again. I don't think I have any copies of NWN laying around anymore, but I'll see if I can't pick one up and get it going again. I wonder if any old Mossbourne players are still around?

Yep, spent quite a few hours on Mossbourne. Handsome Jack was my character name. Quite fun finding the same name in Borderlands many years later :) Bugastinn was another character on that server that a friend of mine played.

Funny how a guy can think of a PW he loved, Google it, and come across the guy who ran the place. Well met again, Bill. It is highly unlikely that you remember me, as I wasn't on the PW as long as some of the others were, but I ran a toon named Samuel Reyer (amongst many others, but he was my highest) under the login of Enialus Meliamne. I think of Mossbourne very often, and in particular, anytime I'm listening to Loreena McKennitt, which is at least once every few months. I hope that you are doing well. Thank you for the many in-game memories garnered there. I'm still in Florida, but much farther north of where I was. Cheers!

Funny indeed how one can google something like this. Mossbourne was my home for a good while. I played the paladin Loristin Agilion,(funny also how one can remember names like this) - and had so many memorable moments on that server with RP, pvp and DM-ing alike. So many great people to play with. Thanks to all of you for making my time there a learning and enjoyable one.

To those above; Handsome Jack, Bugastinn, Kilik, Enialus - I remember you all. Thanks for the good times, as fellow player and DM. Bill - thanks for making Mossbourne and hosting it, it was my first online gaming experience and my best one. I think of it often.